


It’s Really Not What You Think

by Ellana17



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22416286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellana17/pseuds/Ellana17
Summary: Three times it wasn’t what it looked like and one time it definitely was.
Relationships: Billy Batson/Freddy Freeman
Comments: 11
Kudos: 351





	It’s Really Not What You Think

**Author's Note:**

> Another fandom, another ship, must be Tuesday or something.

1/ Mary

The arrow was spinning so fast Billy could not read it. His vision was blurry, probably because of the tears in his eyes, he guessed.

“Mom?” he called desperately. “Mom! Come back! I’ll be good, I swear. Mom!”

His throat was closing up. It felt like he was chocking. He could not breath, could not think.

“Why did you leave me?” he asked in a small voice.

“Billy?” someone called. “Billy, wake up!”

Billy woke up with a start, breathing heavily. He was in his bed, he realized slowly. It was only a dream.

Billy was not a small boy anymore, he had no reason to feel so distressed over a nightmare. He managed to keep his fears at bay during the day, but at night, when he was alone in the dark, his fears would come back and haunt him.

What made him so unlovable? he asked himself, silently wiping in the dark.

“Billy?” Freddy called from the bottom bed, so quietly that Billy thought he had imagined it. “Look man, I can’t really climb up there so let me know you’re still alive, okay?”

Billy almost smiled at his friend’s babbling. He tried taking a deep breath. Freddy could probably tell he had been crying by now but Billy did not want to look weak in front of the other boy.

“Hey, I can’t come up but you can come down if you want. You know, if that helps. You already know I snore and it doesn’t seem to bother you so… Plus, I read somewhere that body heat is supposed to help you sleep better, you know. Like feeling you’re not alone or something.”

Damn it. Billy could not hold back his tears anymore. He carefully climbed down the ladder as Freddy kept on babbling and apologizing about making things worse. In fact, it was the complete opposite.

Billy would probably hate himself in the morning for what he was about to do but at the moment he could not bring himself to care. He slowly climbed into Freddy’s bed.

“Ah, there you are,” the other boy whispered. “You scared the crap out of me, dude. I mean, you can talk to me about it if you want. I won’t judge.”

“I know, Freddy. Thanks,” Billy told him quietly.

He felt Freddy’s hand on his arm and did not resist the urge to burry his face in his friend’s neck. If Freddy had not known Billy had been crying then feeling his wet cheeks against his skin would have definitely clued him in. Billy took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

When Freddy woke up the next morning, it took him a couple seconds to remember what had happened the night before. He turned on his side and glanced at Billy who was still sleeping peacefully.

Freddy heard footsteps outside the door a few seconds before it opened and Mary walked in.

“Wake up, sleepyheads,” she greeted before freezing on the spot, her hand still on the handle.

Her jaw practically fell to the floor.

“Huh,” Freddy groaned, sitting up. “It’s not what it looks like?” he tried.

Mary remained frozen, the door ajar behind her.

“In or out, Mary,” Freddy said, feeling suddenly annoyed at the interruption.

Mary finally seemed to shake herself from her stupor and fully walked in, closing the door behind her.

“What’s going on?” she whispered.

Judging by the look on her face, Freddy could imagine all sorts of scenarios running through her mind at the moment. Freddy had no intention of breaking Billy’s trust but he could not let Mary get the wrong idea.

“He had a nightmare,” he finally said quietly. “Woke up crying.”

“So he spent the night in your bed?” Mary asked, rising her eyebrow.

“What was I supposed to do?” Freddy asked, feeling defensive all of a sudden. “Let him cry himself to sleep?”

Mary seemed to deflate at that. “Of course not,” she whispered. “You did the right thing. But you guys need to get up. It’s your turn helping Rosa with the groceries.”

Freddy groaned. He had completely forgotten about that.

“We’ll be down in a minute,” he finally said.

Mary nodded before turning around and quietly closing the door behind her.

Freddy let out a sigh and resigned himself to wake Billy up. He gently put his hand on Billy’s shoulder.

“Hey, wake up Batson.”

Freddy watched as Billy slowly woke up, opening his eyes and blinking in confusion.

“What time is it?” he asked, yawning.

“Not sure exactly but we need to get up. We’re supposed to go grocery shopping with Rosa this morning, remember?”

Billy groaned. “Right,” he grumbled, trying to sit up. He groaned again and took his face in his hands. “My head is killing me.”

“Yeah, that’s usually what happens and you cry yourself to sleep,” Freddy informed him.

Billy smiled. “Talking from experience?” he asked playfully.

“Oh yeah,” Freddy nodded, grinning like a fool. “I cry myself to sleep every night thinking about Superman’s biceps.”

Billy snorted. “Because you’re jealous or because you want him to wrap his arms protectively around you?”

Freddy shrugged. “Bit of both, I guess,” he said matter-of-factly.

Billy laughed out loud, covering his mouth with his hand and Freddy grinned, feeling proud of himself.

When Billy stopped laughing, he looked at Freddy, suddenly dead serious. “You’re a superhero too, you know,” he said softly.

“Yeah, well,” Freddy shrugged. “Doesn’t really feel like it most days.”

Billy frowned. “Yeah. I know what you mean.”

“Hey Billy, are you okay? For real, I mean.”

“I don’t know,” Billy answered truthfully.

“Well, you can always come to me if you’re feeling down, you know that right?”

Billy stared at him, clearly surprised. Then, he nodded slowly.

“Thanks, Freddy.”

Freddy could have drowned in those eyes, he realized suddenly. Before he could do anything stupid, he heard Darla singing in the corridor as the house slowly started to wake up.

“We better get up,” he said, looking away.

2/ Victor

Billy would rather die than admit it but since that night he had been using any excuse to get as close as Freddy as possible so when he walked into the kitchen and saw Freddy reaching inside the cupboard to grab a chocolate bar, Billy did not think. He only reacted.

“That chocolate bar is mine,” he exclaimed, launching himself at Freddy.

The other boy squeaked in surprise, startled by the sudden attack.

“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” he asked reproachfully before immediately hiding the candy behind his back.

He was smiling though, almost laughing, and Billy smiled back, wrapping his arms around Freddy’s waist to try to grab the candy. It was probably crushed by now but Billy did not care about that.

They were so engrossed in their fight that they did not register Victor walking in.

“Boys, the cupboards are full of junk food, what are you even doing?” he asked, clearly amused.

Billy froze. Glancing at the opened cupboard he realized that it was full of chocolate bars.

“You could have said something you know,” Billy told the other boy.

“Before you body slammed me you mean?”

Now Billy was starting to feel bad.

“Here,” Freddy said, and Billy realized he was grinning. “You can have the crushed one, I’m taking a new one.”

“Oh no, you’re not,” Billy exclaimed.

Freddy ended up jumping on Billy’s back trying to reach the cupboard as they both promised to murder the other in his sleep.

Behind them, Billy could imagine Victor rolling his eyes.

3/ Rosa

None of them could agree on what to watch on TV. The others had made their peace with it but Billy and Freddy had not. It had somehow become a game between them. The first one to the remote would get to choose the channel. Billy was ready for a fight to the death.

Walking into the living room, he slowly walked to the couch where Freddy was lying down, his eyes closed, his hands wrapped around the remote. Perfect, he thought.

Billy moved slowly, reaching for the remote as quietly as he could. He stopped when he saw Freddy flinch in his sleep and waited a few seconds before moving his hand again. He realized that touching Freddy’s hand to grab the remote would wake the other boy up but he had no choice. It was a risk he had to take to win this battle.

Billy tried to ignore the tingling sensation when his hand brushed against Freddy’s. Suddenly, Freddy’s grip on the remote tightened and he opened his eyes.

“Oh no, you don’t!” he exclaimed.

“Bring it,” Billy challenged, falling on his knees in front of the couch to get closer to the remote.

But Freddy was quicker and managed to hide the remote between his back and the couch, effectively preventing Billy from grabbing the remote. That did not stop Billy who immediately tried to take the remote from under Freddy. He miscalculated though and his hand ended up being trapped inside Freddy’s shirt, touching the skin of his back.

“Shit, your hands are cold,” Freddy hissed.

The other boy turned on his side, facing Billy and squishing his hands under him. Good strategy, Billy thought. He tried lifting his hands and suddenly Freddy was rolling off the couch and falling on Billy. They both groaned in pain.

“I win,” Freddy said triumphantly.

“Boys?” Rosa called. She walked into the room and glanced down at them. “You guys doing okay?” she asked, trying and failing to hide her grin.

Freddy launched himself at the remote, digging his knees in Billy’s stomach, paying no mind when Billy groaned in pain.

“I win,” Freddy exclaimed, waving the remote around.

Billy stared helplessly at the ceiling, trying to ignore the feeling of Freddy so close to him.

+1/ Darla (and Co.)

Dinner at Casa Shazam was always a bit crazy. Tonight, Billy was feeling particularly bold as he lightly touched Freddy’s foot with his own. The boy glanced at him from across the table and when their eyes met Billy knew they were both thinking about their heavy make-out session a few hours earlier.

Billy looked away and tried to focus on what Darla was saying.

“And people were making fun of Simon because his half-sister and his half-brother are getting married to each other.”

“Wait, what?” Billy asked, wishing he had been paying more attention to the start of the conversation.

Darla gave him a look. “Yeah, Simon’s parents already had kids when they remarried and had Simon so his father’s son fell in love with his mom’s daughter and now they’re getting married but Simon always has to explain that to people and they give him a hard time about it.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” Billy said, slowly raising his glass of water to take a sip.

“It was nice of you to defend him, sweetie,” Rosa told the girl.

Darla nodded sagely. “I told him I know what it’s like because my two brothers are dating but we’re not related so that’s okay.”

Billy promptly chocked on his drink.

“Excuse me?” he asked, coughing. Pedro felt the need to pat Billy on the back, which only made the coughing worse.

Darla nodded eagerly. “Yeah, I mean you and Freddy will definitely get married someday and I wouldn’t want people making fun of you guys.”

Billy was going to die. It felt like his heart was going to jump out of his chest. He glanced at Freddy, who was as red as a tomato.

“What-” Freddy said. “What makes you think that, Darla, that’s ridiculous. I mean, I don’t know where you got that idea.”

They were definitely screwed. Freddy was such a bad liar it was a miracle they had kept their Shazam secret as long as they had. Their relationship though… Not even a week in and they had already been busted by the kid.

Darla looked at Freddy like he had just lost his mind. “I saw you kissing this morning, and yesterday morning, and the day before that, and…”

“Okay, okay, Darla, I think we get it, sweetie,” Rosa cut in before Billy could die of embarrassment.

“So much for keeping this on the down low,” Freddy mumbled.

“You shouldn’t have been kissing in the kitchen then,” Darla pointed out.

“Yes, thank you Darla, I think they realize that now,” Victor added.

Mary looked at them both before glaring at Freddy. “You told me it was nothing. Why did you lie? Don’t you trust me?” she added, clearly hurt.

Billy had no idea what she was talking about.

“I didn’t lie,” Freddy explained. “Nothing was going on at the time.”

“When did this happen?” Rosa asked gently.

Billy and Freddy glanced at each other.

“Four days ago, give or take,” Billy answered.

Victor snorted. “You managed to get busted by Darla four times in four days. Nice, guys.

“In a spirit of full disclosure,” Pedro said suddenly, “I saw them kissing in the school library.”

Billy groaned and buried his face in his hands.

“I saw them in the garage,” Eugene added.

Victor and Rosa burst out laughing. At least they were taking this well, Billy thought.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming,” Mary said quietly. “It was so obvious.”

“Yes, thank you Mary,” Freddy snapped.

Billy felt his boyfriend nudge his foot but did not look up. 

“Okay, okay,” Rosa said, trying to get her giggles under control. “Give them a break, guys.”

Billy slowly spread his fingers and took a peak at his family. Freddy’s face was back to its normal color but he was still scowling. Mary’s jaw was practically on the floor. But at least Rosa and Victor seemed to think the whole situation was highly entertaining.

“Can I be the flower girl at your wedding?” Darla asked suddenly.

Billy groaned and hit his head on the table.

THE END


End file.
